For Your Sake
by Emperor Zeref Dragneel
Summary: Boa Hancock loves Monkey D. Luffy. But how far will she be willing to go for the sake of her love? And consequentially for the man she held so dear as well? She's willing to stand up against the World Government, just to save him from their clutches.
1. Chapter 1

**For Your Sake**

**Full Summary: **Boa Hancock loves Monkey D. Luffy. But how far will she be willing to go for the sake of her love? And consequentially for the man she held so dear as well? She's willing to stand up against the World Government, just to save him from their clutches.

**Main Pairings:** Luffy and Hancock, albeit a bit later on.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Eiichiro Oda.

_Capture_

Monkey D. Luffy and his crew had just set sail from the shore of Sabaody Archipelago. To him, everything felt perfect at this moment. His brother, Portgas D. Ace had been successfully saved from the hands of the Marines two years ago at the War of the Best, and was now back with his family, the Whitebeard Pirates. Even though their captain had sacrificed himself for the sake of his crew and had as a result of it lost his life, they couldn't be more proud of a father than they were of Whitebeard. He had given up his life to save one of his sons, and somehow Ace felt as if he would never be able to repay the old man for all that he had done for him. Thinking as to how Ace was probably enjoying himself with Marco, Vistar, Jozu and the rest of his crew, Luffy felt a small smile forming on his face.

He had also managed to be reunited with his crew, after two entire years of separation. Originally, he had planned to meet up with them after he had successfully escaped from MarineFord, but the first mate of the Roger Pirates, Silvers Rayleigh, had told him how it wouldn't be a good idea to meet up with them and set sail for the New World almost abruptly. When Luffy had gotten angry and protested why, as he had longed to see his crew ever since that day when they had all been split up by Bartholomew Kuma at Sabaody, Rayleigh informed him that how even though he had successfully managed to save Ace, he had done so with a hair's breadth and if it were not for the help of all the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies, he probably wouldn't have managed to save his brother. Luffy had opened his mouth to retaliate, but saw the reason in the man's words, and decided to listen to what he had to say next. Silvers then told him that it would probably be a good idea to train for a longer period of time, and then after that, they would be ready to set sail for the New World. Luffy then decided that Rayleigh's decision was the best, and decided to convey the same news to his crewmates. Now, after two whole years of separation, here they were again, joined together as the big family that they had been ever since the Strawhat Pirates had been formed.

Lastly, although he would not tell anyone this, was the fact that he had the life of his time in those two years on Amazon Lily. Not to say that he had not managed to enjoy himself before, but well Monkey D. Luffy was a sucker for anything that tended to give him a really good adventure. That , and the fact that he loved meat to the moon and back. Well, having said this, anyone that offered Luffy meat instantly became a real darling to him. And the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock had certainly managed to fulfill this certain aspect. She pampered him with meat as much as possible between his training sessions with the Dark King, and Luffy his affection for the Warlord growing with each time that she appeared with her subordinates on the Island, carrying stack tones of meat. Seeing this daily made him feel a bit warmer and certainly did make him is able to go through the training sessions properly, even though Rayleigh himself was not an avid supporter of this idea. He preferred that Luffy himself make food of anything that was present on the island, but well, Luffy could be a bit stubborn sometimes. So in the end, Rayleigh had to resign his decision to be strict about Luffy's diet. Besides, it seemed to have no adverse effects on his diet, so it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Hancock herself had seen Luffy off at the Archipelago, expressing her desire to see him soon. She had also offered her hand in marriage to him, but Luffy had turned her down, saying that he was not interested in marriage himself. However, as he went away from the older woman, he waved back at her and promised that he would definitely stop by the island again to check up on her. This made Hancock's heart flutter, and suddenly her cheeks became a messy shade of red that ran all the way to her ears.

"Luffy, how on earth did you manage to meet someone as amazing as Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress?"

Luffy's train of thoughts was cut off by the sound of his cook, Sanji, so he turned to face him, from his position on the mast of the ship. He had wanted to get a better look at their surroundings, his keen sense of adventure kicking in. A wide grin was already plastered to his face, and he placed his hands on his legs, and then said, "Well, when that bear-guy blasted us off Sabaody, he sent me to the island where I met Hancock. And we became friends!"

Leave it to Luffy to explain things in such an ambiguous manner.

Sanji felt the rage welling up in him, and comically, proceeded to grab the rubber man by the hem of his shirt and shook him violently, tears streaming down his eyes. He was still angry that Luffy had spent two years on the island of dreams for most of the men in the world, while he had to spend the last two years of his life fleeing from the advances of the Okama who were on Kamabakka Kingdom. Honestly, any one would feel enraged by this; however Luffy genuinely found the whole matter funny, so he could not hold in his laughter. Samji merely shook the rubber man vigorously, while repeating the words, "You lucky, lucky, shitty rubber!"

"So, Luffy, how was it there? Amazon Lily, I mean."

This was the voice of Luffy's navigator, Nami. She had gotten curious about the island after hearing about it from the archaeologist, Nico Robin. She did not know anything about any all-female islands, so this generally made her curious as to what kind of an island it was. Maybe it was a bit better than her own island of Cocoyashi, as she had no idea as to how a woman was able to be ruler of an entire island all by herself. Nami knew that Princess Vivi was someone in authority, but she really didn't do much to help govern Alabasta Kingdom, leaving it all to her dad, King Nefertari Cobra.

Luffy, who was still being shook by Sanji, shot a glance at his navigator, then said, '"It was fun! I had lots and lots of meat to eat! And the people there were really nice to me, but they kept on pulling my skin and even started a business where people had to pay to touch me! It was hilarious!" Nami's eyes widened in amusement, and then she found herself closing her eyes and chuckling a little to Luffy's story. Well, even though it wasn't exactly detailed as much as she wanted, she would have to go with Luffy's description, for now.

Roronoa Zoro, who was currently napping at the base of the sail, having exhausted himself prior to his trip here from Kuragaina Island, suddenly woke up with a start. Sanji and Luffy, who were still in the middle of their crazy antics, noticed the green-haired swordsman sudden wake, and Luffy asked him, "What's wrong, Zoro?" However, Luffy's gaze suddenly became more serious and alongside the cook next to him, the two of them stared into the distance, where there was a ship approaching them.

It was a Navy ship, evident as to the Jolly Roger that it sported, which had the Marine's symbol of an anchor and the familiar blue color of the anchor, plus the name "Marine", etched into the sail of the ship. Immediately, Sanji released Luffy, and the rubber man walked until the edge of the ship, preparing to encounter the new threat that had just imposed itself on them. It wasn't exactly surprising. Luffy's bounty had recently risen to 400 million berries, after his infiltration of Impel Down, and his participation in the war. However, he had not expected to meet enemies this early, as he and his crew had just resurfaced recently after two years of inactivity.

"What should we do Luffy? Should we attack?" Robin asked, having appeared behind Luffy to get a better view of their enemies.

"No. They probably won't pose much of a threat. I'll just shoot back all the cannon balls they shoot at us," Luffy replied to his crewmate, while adjusting his straw hat, preparing to end this feud as soon as possible.

However, unknown to the Strawhat pirates, the Marines on the ship were led by the fearsome Vice Admiral, Onigumo. The man, who was known by the men on his ship for his famous reputation as being a firm believer of Absolute Justice, was seated in the middle of the ship, a cigarette popping out of his mouth. One of his subordinates approached him, and then told him, "Sir, we have confirmed the presence of the Strawhat Pirates. They are in the direction of 12 o'clock, just ahead of us."

The Vice Admiral let out a puff of smoke, then an evil grin broke out on his face. Ever since his first encounter with the Strawhats two years ago, when he had met them on Enies Lobby after they had infiltrated the Government Island to save their comrade, Nico Robin, he had found his anger at the captain of the crew growing with each and each incident he found himself in. He had defeated the leader of the CP-9, Rob Lucci, and in doing so shamed the World Government, which had put so much pride in the investigation unit as being their strongest Cipher Pol unit. Luffy and his friends had also miraculously escaped the Buster Call, making them the first people to do so in the history since the practice had started, and thus smudged the government's name and pride even further.

In addition to that, the Strawhat Captain had also managed to save his brother, Fire Fist Ace, from the clutches of the Navy two years ago; while they had planned to use the infamous pirate to serve as an example that no one was able to escape the wrath of the marines. Onigumo himself had been the Vice Admiral who had been sent to Impel Down to fetch Ace and deliver him to his final resting place, in MarineFord. The Vice Admiral had never felt so insulted in his life, as he had been one of the people who had been summoned to MarineFord to deal with the Whitebeard Pirates, and yet they had failed in their prime task. As an enforcer of absolute justice, he could not let such atrocities pass before his eyes.

Therefore, he had made it his personal goal to capture the Strawhat Pirates Captain, Monkey D. Luffy. Even though he knew that he was probably acting outside orders, and that the newly appointed Fleet Admiral, Sakazuki, would probably punish him for acting out of order, he still had to capture the pirate, and, acting on information from one of his men who was currently on Sabaody, after having spotted Luffy strolling through the town nonchalantly, he had managed to pinpoint the position of their ship, as he knew that it had not departed too long ago from the island.

The broad man got up from his position on the chair, and then said to his subordinates, who were all positioned around him awaiting orders, "Ready the new equipment. We'll have that man down in a few minutes."

"Sir, yes sir!" The Marines shouted in unison, and they rushed to the base of the ship, where there lay a cart that was full of pistols. Next to the cart that was full of pistols, was a cart that had bullets in it. However, the bullets themselves were odd. They were each grey in color, and were quite lengthy, as opposed to the normal caliber bullets which they used in their day to day activities. The Marines quickly loaded the guns with the bullets, and within a matter of seconds, they had returned to the top of the ship, where their commander lay in wait. The sight of his men resurfacing had put him at ease, as he realized that they had no difficulties in loading the guns with the new ammunition that they had recently received.

Luffy, who was still standing at the top of the ship looking outwards at the ship of approaching Marines, found he yawning due to boredom. Around a minute had passed, and they still hadn't done anything. This was quite strange, since most times that they encountered a pirate ship; they tended not to hold back and released fire immediately. However, this time it seemed as if they were holding back intentionally, as if they were preparing for something.

As Luffy was about to turn to Usopp and give him the leeway to release fire on the ship, he saw the glint of something from the corner of his eye. Looking closer as to where the glint had come from, he saw that there were several guns that were pointed in the direction of the Thousand Sunny. The glint itself was caused by the reflection of the sunlight on the metallic surfaces that were on the pistols currently held by the Marines.

"Oh, so they decided to go with simpler tactics this time then?" An amused Zoro expressed from the base of the mast, where he had decided to rest himself since Luffy had decided to deal with the incoming menace himself. He had been so used to cutting through cannon balls in the numerous attacks that the crew had withstood ever since their reputation sky-rocketed two years ago, that he had forgotten the nostalgic feeling of having to cut through, evade and dodge several minute attacks from bullets that were aimed at him.

"Yohohohohoho! How scary!" This was the voice of the Srawhat Pirates musician, Brook, who was strumming his guitar while he looked at the ship that was in front of them. Knowing that bullets could not harm him as he was already dead, he threw away all caution to the wind and decided to engage in a song that would at least keep the crew entertained till their next island.

"Fire!" A distant order ensued, breaking the tension that was currently in the air between the two ships, and suddenly a rain of bullets descended on the Thousand Sunny.

"**Gomu Gomu no….Fuusen!" **Luffy shouted, and immediately his body swelled up to the size of a large balloon. He felt himself going higher and higher into the air, and laughed a little. Honestly, the feeling of flying was always amazing; no matter how many times he had used the move to defend against wide-range attacks, such as what was coming his way at the moment. While Luffy was well aware that his crew was capable of handling the attack, it was his duty as Captain to defend his crew, plus also his ship from possible damage caused by enemy fire.

He waited for the feel of the bullets bounce off his skin, but it never came. Instead, what came was pain. White-hot, searing pain, that he suddenly became aware of in all the nerves of his body. Looking down at his torso where most of the attacks had landed, he was shocked to see blood oozing from several points of his torso. This was certainly not something he had braced himself for, as he could not remember the last time when he felt the actual sting of bullets hitting his body. He felt himself deflate slowly, and realized that he was falling, falling, into the sea that lay below him and the ship's surface.

"Luffy!" The sound of his doctor, Tony Tony Chopper, managed to reach his ears, before everything suddenly turned black, and there was the sound of a splash as his body landed into the water

**A/N: **Well, there's chapter one of my new fanfic, titled "For Your Sake." I wasn't really sure about whether I should write a One Piece fanfic or not, but then I was like "Aaaah, to hell with it." So here it is. I hope it was a satisfying first chapter to read, and if you found it to be interesting, do make sure to leave a review. Cheers!


	2. Painful Decision

**Chapter 2**

**Painful Decision**

"Luffy!" A second shout tore in the air after Chopper's earlier shout at his captain, who had already made a huge splash as his body came into contact with the huge, vast sea that lay beneath him.

And the green-haired swordsman found himself running towards the edge of the ship, prepared to save his captain, who was already in one of the worst positions a Devil Fruit user could find them in. Naturally, devil fruit users had gotten their abilities at the price of not being able to swim in water. That meant that Robin, Chopper and Brook were already deemed unable to save the rubber man. All that was left was the swordsman, Sanji, Nami or Franky. However, ever since Luffy had saved Zoro from execution two years ago on East Blue, the swordsman had owed him a debt to his life, a debt that he felt he had not paid fully until date. Of course, on Thriller Bark, he had exchanged his life for Luffy, but still, his sense of honor and loyalty towards his captain was not something that he felt could be easily repaid with one or two actions. He personally felt that he owed Luffy more than that, since the boy was the one who enabled him to make his dream come into fruition. By joining Luffy and going on an adventure around the world to find One Piece, he was able to encounter a lot of strong swordsmen and fighters that he may not have been able to encounter if he remained cooped up in East Blue his entire life. Zoro was thankful to Luffy for giving him the chance to be able to expand his horizon on the world, and with that, strengthen his resolve to become the world's strongest swordsman.

Behind him, he could hear the rest of the crew move around in determination to save their captain. Usopp was already preparing the ship's cannons to counter attack at the enemies; Franky and Nami were in the ship's navigation room, preparing to release the **Shark Submerge** **III** so that they could go and retrieve Luffy from the depths of the water in which he had fallen into, and Sanji, Chopper and Robin were standing behind Zoro, preparing to warn him in case of any movements by the enemy ship. Zoro lowered his kimono, preparing to dive into the sea with all his three swords attached to his waist, when he suddenly sensed it.

Quickly drawing his **Shuusui, **he immediately thrust the blade in front of him towards the enemy ship and there was a loud "Gong!" as another bullet made contact with his sword. Sanji looked alarmed as he noticed Zoro's upper body had moved, ever so slightly, in resonance to the collision between his sword and a bullet. Zoro had barely managed to sense the bullet just minutes away as it was from contact with his head, and even then, the bullet had managed to produce a force of collision with Zoro's sword that caused the able-bodied swordsman to be pushed back a little.

The green haired swordsman's one eye widened in surprise, as he looked towards the blade of his black sword, at the point where the sword had made contact with the bullet. There was a small wisp of smoke originating from that area, and Zoro faintly heard a small plop of water below his feet. He looked astonished, as he realized just what this had meant. He had not been able to cut the bullet at all, instead being able to barely parry it as it attacked him from one of the enemy's firearms. In the past, whenever he cut enemy bullets he made sure to cut them cleanly in half, leaving the bullet to continue moving past him in two. But this time, things were different. Entirely different. More so, the force from the bullet managed to overpower the force from the swing of his sword and thus send him reeling backwards, even if it was for a millimeter.

"Oh no you don't," Onigumo softly spoke from his comfortable seated position within the ship. He had been watching the entire ordeal with the Strawhat pirates that bad been ensuing for the past five minutes or so, and once he saw Luffy falling into the water with blood oozing from several places of his torso, he had smiled satisfactorily. It was rare to see a smile coming from the Vice Admiral, who was known to be one of the harshest Marines there ever was in the Navy. He seldom smiled, only choosing to shout out his approval whenever he saw something that pleased him. However, this time, he had smiled once he realized that they had managed to successfully ensnare Monkey D. Luffy into their ploy. And the boy, being the idiot he was, had fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

That bubble of joy that the Vice Admiral had felt had threatened to be burst violently immediately he saw the Pirate Hunter move into action to save their fallen captain. He would have been surprised, but he had already expected this course of action from the Strawhat Pirates. Seeing them on Enies Lobby waiting for their captain to rejoin them so that they could manage to escape the Government Island after his fierce fight with Rob Lucci spoke volumes to him regarding the crewmate's loyalty to their captain. However, this time, he had decided he would give them no such leeway. They were not going to be able to retrieve their captain. Immediately ordering for an attack on the swordsman, he was confident that they would be able to obtain more than one head that day. Even if they had originally come here for Strawhat Luffy, there was nothing that stated that the rest of his crewmates, who also had large bounties on their heads, were exempt from their onslaught on the Pirate Crew. He was confident in the power of their latest weapon, after having seen it sink a man who had a bounty of 400 million berries on his head.

To his dismay however, the swordsman had been able to react well in time to parry the bullet away. They had been so close, since Zoro had been able to only detect the bullet when it had been inches away from his head. He wasn't one of the most skilled swordsmen to grace the Grand Line with his presence for nothing, Onigumo thought as he watched the swordsman's perturbed expression with a smirk on his scarred face. He wasn't quite done yet.

Immediately, he ordered for another attack on the ship. The man who was next to him, who had fired the previous bullet at Zoro, immediately readied his gun again. There was a "Boom!" as the speeding bullet made its way from the mouth of its gun and headed steadfastly towards the swordsman, who seemed too distracted in his thoughts to be able to make a rational decision to dodge the bullet.

If there was one thing that Onigumo should have realized by now, it was to always expect the unexpected from the rookie pirates.

"YOU DAMNED MARIMO!"

Sanji shouted these words as he rushed forward, and leapt into the air to deflect the bullet that was heading straight for Zoro. Seeing how his captain and vice-captain had been overwhelmed by the enemy's firepower made him realize that these enemies came here specifically prepared to take them down. They weren't just your regular old marines that always seemed to pop out of nowhere and launch an attack at their ship, as was the case in several islands that the Strawhats had been to in their tour of the Grand Line. In addition to that, they had some really good snipers in their crew, probably better than Usopp in that regard. He had already sensed the bullet as it made its way towards Zoro, having developed and matured his **Observation Haki **in his time on the Kamabakka Kingdom during the crew's two-year separation. He was probably better than anyone else in the crew in that department.

Sanji quickly spun in the air to generate friction with his legs as he activated his **Diable Jambe**, preparing to deflect the enemy bullet. From what he had seen regarding Zoro's and Luffy's earlier events, he had realized that this was probably a new technology that was developed by the World Government to aid them in the capture of pirates, especially after the increased number of pirates heading out to sea ever since the War of The Best two years ago. It was the same case with the Pacifistas that had been unleashed onto Sabaody Archipelago to enable the Marines there to capture the Supernovas that had all gathered there in preparation to set sail into the New World. After encountering Bartholomew Kuma and one of the government's own artificially made Pacifistas, PX-4, and having his leg nearly shattered in each instance with the attacks he made on the cyborgs, he had come to realize that he shouldn't underestimate any new methods that the government developed to stop pirates. Deciding to counter this new weapon they had, whatever it was, with his strongest fighting style, he kicked at the medium-sized bullet, hard.

Sanji's shout as he fell from the air immediately invaded the tense atmosphere that had been already there for a while in the Strawhat Pirate ship.

The bullet stung, hard. The fire that had been on his legs early dissipated as quickly as it had enveloped them and the blonde man immediately fell towards the water. His teeth gritted in air as blood gushed from his bullet wound, that had appeared on his right leg, he looked down to see the ship a few meters away from him. He must have jumped out quite a distance, he thought, and with the remaining strength in his left leg, as his right leg had been rendered numb now, he kicked at the air using his **Sky Walk**, heading towards the ship's direction. The amount of blood gushing out of his wound was increasing with each mile he fell through the sky, and the cook knew that he couldn't remain conscious for much longer. Drifting in and out of consciousness, as he expected himself to crash into the grassy field at the ship's top floor, he felt himself being grabbed by a firm pair of hands. He feebly looked up to find himself staring into Zoro's stunned expression, and with a sigh of relief, he passed out.

"Wrong move, Black Foot. After realizing the effects that Sea Prism has on Devil Fruit users, I don't think the effects would be the same with a normal human. The Pirate Hunter had the advantage in that he could use his swords, which are all **Meitou, **to deflect the bullets. You, on the other hand, weren't so lucky. You might probably not be able to use your right leg for a while," Onigumo thought, as he watched Sanji descend from mid-air where he had leapt into a few moments earlier to save Zoro.

On the Strawhat ship, there was general panic as the crew's cook had been knocked out and lay amidst the field atop the ship's surface. Nami and Franky had come up from the ship's command centre, after having heard Sanji's shout a few moments earlier. They had been halfway through managing to prepare the Shark Submerge to go and rescue their captain, the process having to take some time as the ship had remain mostly untouched for the two years of time they had been away from it. The only person who had come into contact with the ship was Silvers Rayleigh, and the former first mate of the Roger Pirates had only been to the ship to coat it. He had not handled any other of the ship's features, and therefore they needed a bit of revving up before they were back in normal functioning state again. They had been stopped halfway though, and with extremely good reason to.

Usopp had also rushed quickly from the position he was in, where he had been currently been preparing the ships cannons to counterattack the enemy. Having ignored Luffy's earlier orders, since they needed to fight tooth and nail to get their captain back, he was steadying the cannons in the enemy's direction, when the crew's cook collapsed onto the ship's surface.

"SANJI!" This was Chopper's voice, as the doctor currently studied Sanji's unconscious form. His eyes then came to rest upon his right leg, where most of his black trouser had been stained red by the wound that lay near his ankle.

"SANJI-KUN!" Nami screamed, as she descended towards the blonde man. She had been shocked to see him in such a state, as Sanji had never been in such critical state before. Actually, none of the crew's top three fighters had been in such a state before, even after life and death matches such as against Oars on Thriller Bark, or against PX-4 on Sabaody Archipelago. His face was rapidly becoming pale as he was slowly creeping towards death's door.

"What is with this wound?" Robin asked, as she looked towards Sanji's bleeding leg. She had clearly never seen such an injury caused by a bullet before. Before she could say anything further, Franky had hoisted the man on his bulky shoulders, and without a word, immediately rushed him to the ship's Medical Ward. Chopper was still dazed at everything that had occurred, opting to believe that it was something out of his worst nightmares. Such as when Bartholomew Kuma separated the crew on Sabaody Archipelago two years ago, whilst before they had been rendered powerless in front of a Marine Admiral, his nephew and two Pacifistas.

"Fire!" Onigumo gave out the order, and then, the floodgates were opened.

The Strawhats were going to learn just how harsh the New World was.

The flurry of bullets made their way towards the ship in swarms, each round being fired consecutively after the previous one. There was the sound of a 'Screech' in the air, and Zoro immediately jumped into action. He had to, being the Vice-Captain after all.

"Get down!" Zoro immediately shouted, and immediately, Nami and Chopper hit the deck. Brook followed suit afterwards, having been stunned too by the recent developments too himself, that he found himself too speechless to even make a comment. It was the worst time to even pull out any of his Skull Jokes, which he usually dished out once the general mood in the ship was down. However, this was clearly not one of those times.

Zoro and Chopper then stepped forward onto the deck, and Chopper felt a bit uneasy from the aura emanating from Zoro at that moment. Looking beside him at the man who he had looked up to ever since he joined the crew, he saw from the expression on his face, he looked ready to kill. Killing intent was leaking out of him as he tied his bandana to his forehead, and placed the third sword into his mouth. Of course Zoro was furious at the moment. Two of his crewmates were down at the moment, one of them fighting for his life in the ward, while the other one, the crew's captain's fate was still unknown. Zoro still held a flicker of hope that their captain was still alive and in a position that they could be able to rescue him, once they had managed to get through this ordeal. However, he felt ashamed of himself, since the second accident with Sanji had been caused by his moment of hesitation after he had barely managed to fend off the enemy's first attack.

_What am I doing?_

The green haired man mentally bashed himself, then with his spirit anew, he stood on deck to fend off the attacks that were steadily heading their way.

Beside him, the crew's doctor immediately took a Rumble Ball, and then shouted, **"Guard Point!"**Chopper immediately increased in size to as large as a hot-air balloon, with his fur growing exceptionally thicker and thicker.

Zoro poised himself beside the doctor, then shouted, **"Santoryu; Three Thousand Worlds! **As the rain of bullets reached them, there was a huge gust of wind from Zoro's attack, having put all of his strength into that attack, and the wind was enough to be felt by the Marines in the Navy ship that was quite a distance from them.

"We can still feel the force of his attack from here? Hoo, most impressive, I have to admit," Onigumo commented, putting his hand to his chin to rub it in a form of amusement.

Quite a number of bullets had been blown away; however, it had not proved to be quite enough. A fair share of bullets ran themselves into Chopper's skin, causing the reindeer to wince slightly in pain as he felt the force of the bullets colliding with his skin. It stung a little, he had to admit, but the force of the bullets impacting with his skin caused him to be pushed off the deck of the ship and onto the lawn, where the other members of the ship were taking cover. His thick fur was doing a good job of keeping most of the ammunition away from his skin and thus exposing him to a whole world of pain, unlike any he had seen before.

The ship took the brunt of the remaining attacks, and the effect was not pretty. The Thousand Sunny was indeed an impressive ship; of course, being eons better than the previous ship owned by the Strawhats, however, the sturdy ship was rendered all but powerless against the might of Sea Prism. The only type of ship in the world that could have been able to stand against the current onslaught of the special bullets was probably the Marine's own battleships and warships, and that was saying something. They had clearly thought this out through while preparing these bullets, Nami thought, and the only man in the world who was able of such a feat was Dr. VegaPunk.

There were cracks of wood all around as the residual bullets that had not been blown away by Zoro's long distance attack, or absorbed by Chopper's Guard point, hit the ship at various points. The white stair lining on the deck was almost completely blown away all around Zoro and Chopper, as the pieces of wood rained upon the Strawhats that were currently sprawled on the floor. Nami yelped when a small piece of debris scratched her arm and drew a small amount of blood.

"There's no time to even reorganize ourselves and form a counterattack against them," Usopp exclaimed as he covered his head from the flying pieces of debris that fell on and around him.

"At this rate we can't even manage to get the Shark Submerge and go rescue Luffy," Nami shrieked from her position on the ground.

The rain of attacks came to a halt, and in the wake of their cease they left a whole lot of damage and destruction, especially on the side of the Strawhats.

"Sir, we need to reload the guns with the bullets, "one man said to the Vice Admiral, who was watching the entire ordeal with the Strawhat pirates with glee. Clearly, things had turned out even better than he had expected, and this was proving to be a really good day in his books.

"Very well. But hurry up with it, we don't want them to escape whilst we are busy reloading our stuff," Onigumo replied sternly to the Marine that had told him about the state of the firearms. The short, stout man immediately exited the scene alongside his comrades, to the cellar where the bullets lay.

"We'll finish them with the next round," the Vice-Admiral thought, then thought to him just how pleased the current Fleet Admiral, Akainu, would feel once he heard that the man who he had failed to kill in the previous war, Monkey D. Luffy, had been successfully captured, and his crew obliterated at the hands of the Vice Admiral and his ship.

On the Strawhat ship, things were hectic, and it was certain by the looks on everyone's faces that they had definitely seen better days. Zoro was breathing a tad too heavily for using only one of his techniques, whilst the ship itself was a wreck and almost a shadow of what it used to be. It wouldn't be able to survive one more attack.

Robin, who was hunched over the ground next to Brook, uncovered her head and immediately poised her hands in a cross formation towards her chest.

"Zoro, I'll handle blocking the next set of attacks. Get back to the sheep and get some rest. I don't think you'll be able to handle taking care of one whole set of attacks by yourself, and Chopper himself doesn't look too good next to you," the older woman commented. True enough, Chopper had managed to revert into his original childlike form, but he was dangerously wobbling as he walked, trying to get a steady hold of his body. His hair had been roughed up in several positions of his body, the unaffected areas having more hair than the ones that were hit by the bullets. All around him, the bullets that had been absorbed by his enlarged form earlier lay scattered, but there was not a single sign of damage on the bullets, or even a dent.

Usopp however, had more pressing concerns at the moment, rather than those bullets that he had never seen before. With worry etched all over his visage, he looked over at Robin, and immediately protested to her suggestion earlier. "That's crazy, Robin! You can form a really good shield if you use your abilities, but have you seen the effect of those bullets? By the way Chopper is wobbling, I think they are Sea Prism bullets, and I have no idea how these things are even real. He was able to withstand the attacks by a milestone because of his Guard Point, but I don't think any of you Devil Fruit eaters should be going anywhere near those bullets!" The long-nosed man finished his statement, throwing a look at Brook, who had remained silent the whole time.

The skeleton nodded in affirmation to Usopp's request, seeing the truth in his words. Even if by chance he was able to withstand the bullets and be in a position where he could be able to assist Zoro in defending the ship as much as possible, Brook did not have any long-range distance attacks that he could use to fend off the bullets as well as Zoro did. All of Brook's attacks involved making contact with the enemy.

"Can't you just shoot at them, Usopp? I mean you are a sniper like them and I think it's impossible for you to miss at this distance," Robin suggested. She had clearly seen the logic behind Usopp's words, and had lowered her arms from her chest, but there was still this one issue she had not addressed regarding Usopp.

"That's a bad idea. Usopp won't be able to hit them. They have some really skilled snipers on that ship, and Usopp's attacks can easily be snuffed out by their heavier and more resilient attacks, "Zoro explained, having sat down next to the crew to take a breather. He was sweating from the additional effort that he had put into blocking these strange bullets, and breathing quite heavily. "The cannons are not even a choice, they have guns, those are easier and faster to reload than cannons, so we'll be sitting ducks after a while even if we decided to use the cannons to fire back at them," the swordsman added to make his point clearer.

"Then, what should we do?" Nami immediately shot up, having managed to sit upright herself. She had been devastated by all that was happening so far and more so by the fact that she could not do anything to help the crew in this situation. Frustrated since her attacks weren't strong enough to take out enemies of the caliber that they were currently facing at the moment, she desperately turned to her crewmates for an answer, hoping that they could be able to find a way out of this situation.

The looks on their faces told her otherwise, and she immediately regretted asking them.

Usopp was the first one to speak, after what seemed like an eternity of silence between the crew. He gulped, after thinking about the situation closely and regarding each and every factor. There was only one solution to this, and Usopp knew that the other members would definitely not like it. Still, he had to speak up. For the sake of the crew. For Luffy's crew and friends.

Clearing his throat, he opened up his mouth," I think we should….."

"I think we should leave this area with **Coup de Burst** immediately while the Marines are having their hands full at the moment," a voice suddenly spoke up from behind everyone, and all heads in the area turned to come face to face with the ship's shipwright, Franky.

There was general outburst of course after his suggestion, but somewhere deep inside, Usopp felt relieved that someone else shared his point of view. It really was the only way, and the sniper was glad that someone as strong-willed as Franky had suggested it.

"What are you talking about?" Robin and Brook immediately spoke up, thinking that they had misheard the blue-haired man the first time. No, he couldn't have been serious, Brook thought, as the words from Franky's statement replayed in his mind like a broken record.

"That's not even something to joke about," Nami immediately chided in, all her previous feelings of nervousness and tension having been dispelled by Franky's over-the-top suggestion.

"That's unacceptable," Zoro was the last one to put in his input, looking at the shipwright as if he had just seen the man for the first time. Franky stared at the swordsman as sternly as he had when he had made his suggestion, and none of them looked as if they were going to change their minds anytime soon.

Franky closed his eyes a little as if in thought, then said, "Listen to me carefully. Right now we are sitting ducks. We can't even manage to coordinate a proper counterattack; Zoro already has his hands full on deflecting all the enemy attacks."

At this point the swordsman intervened, taking what Franky said as a personal insult to his pride as a swordsman and the first mate of the Strawhat Pirates. "Oi, what do you mean by that?" Zoro asked, focusing his gaze away from Franky. "I can handle their entire attacks fine by myself, in case you haven't noticed," he added on, making sure to put special emphasis on each and every word he uttered. He was growing irate with the shipwright, and he intended to have Franky see that.

Franky however, still retained the same dangerously calm tone he had been using this entire time, which was quite a feat regarding the perilous situation the crew had found themselves in. "Yes, you can defend well against the bullets. But not all of them. The ones you can't get to are hitting the ship and at this rate this ship is going to sink. Forget saving Luffy, we'll practically be sitting ducks against the Marines if that happens."

Zoro opened his mouth again to protest and his words got caught in his throat. Franky was right, he realized it, and in the end no matter what it looked like it was a lose-lose situation for them. He could probably enter the water and swim towards the enemy ship to land a surprise attack on them, but in this situation, he was not even sure if he would be able to take out all the enemies, much less make it to their ship in the first place without drawing attention to himself.

He looked at the rest of the members to see if they could manage to wiggle a solution that would save the entire situation, but the solemn looks on their faces told them all he needed to know.

"I don't think Luffy would want us to die here. No matter what. Even if it means leaving him behind, if we all went and died here, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. After losing his brother in that dreadful war, if he loses us I think there'll be no one left to stop him from taking his own life," Usopp explained, finally finding the courage to speak up after Franky had unknowingly given him the confidence to explain his point of view to the crew.

"Sanji is in critical condition right now, after losing too much blood from the wound he got earlier, and Chopper is currently seeing to him. If we continue this charade he might not be able to be treated properly, and he will die too. So I suggest we first get out of this place, then once we are in a safe position on the sea we can find a way on how to get Luffy back. I don't quite think he's dead yet. The Marines will obviously retrieve his body from the sea; he is a valuable bounty to them, after all, so there will be a definitely better chance to save him when that happens," Franky added on, and each of the members of the crew began to come round to his method of thinking. They each looked at him with a resigned look on each of their faces, but their eyes spoke volumes about the dedication they would have to save their captain once they had gotten to safe ground.

And with that, Franky turned his back to them, heading back to the ship's control centre so that he could manage to send them all off with Coup de Burst. It was just as hard for him as everyone else, he thought, as he saw the stream of tears making their way down on their navigators face, as she held her mouth to silence the sobs that would have broken out otherwise. A painful decision had to be made in times like this, and most times, it did more good than harm, as they would soon come to realize.

On the Navy ship, the snipers that had gone to reload their firearms with ammunition returned to deck and Onigumo regarded their return with a satisfied look. They had taken a bit longer to reload their weapons, but he could not blame them. They still had to get adjusted to their new weapons, part of which included reloading them as careful as possible. However, they still managed to get it done, so Onigumo had no complaints.

The men positioned themselves on the deck as they had before, and readied their guns, awaiting the command from their Vice Admiral. However, just before Onigumo opened his mouth to voice his approval of what would be their final wave of attack before the Strawhats were completely obliterated; there was something that sounded like a rocket in front of them, and once the Vice Admiral had turned his head to see where the commotion was coming from, his worst fears were confirmed.

The ship was already in the sky, and pieces of debris fell loosely from it to the sea that lay beneath them. They probably wouldn't be coming back there for a while.

**A/N:** To be continued.


	3. Search

**Chapter 3**

**Search**

*Slap*

That was the first sound heard once the Strawhat's ship, the Thousand Sunny, had finally hit the sea again after they had managed to escape from Onigumo by the skin of their teeth. They were finally in safe waters again, but the stillness of the water that surrounded them on all fours was a stark contrast to the unrest and turmoil each person on that ship was feeling at the moment. Of course, the ship's navigator, Nami, was none the better, as she realized that she was unable to hold in the swirl of negative emotions she was feeling at the moment. Without warning or any prior action beforehand, she let all her feelings burst out on her hand, in the form of the slap that she laid on the hardened face of the shipwright, Cyborg Franky.

Franky's face numbly moved to the side as he became aware of the stinging sensation on the right side of his face. He had been subject to Nami's outwardly violent behavior in the past, of course, but for some reason, the feel of her hand on his cheek was…_heavy_. It was a testament to what the orange haired girl was feeling in her heart at the moment. As he slowly shifted her eyes to meet her face, which was surely grief stricken at the moment, he found himself unsurprised at the tears that effortlessly made their way down her cheeks.

Nami was not quite done yet. With all the anger she could muster, she immediately grabbed the taller, bulkier man by the sides of his shirt. She pulled him close enough, where he could register the sad expression that manned her normally stoic face. Somehow the image left an oddly empty feeling in his gut.

"Why did you tell us to do that?!There were still plenty of chances to save Luffy! We left our captain behind!" Nami cried out to the cyborg, all her feelings welling up to the surface as she spoke with a tear laden face. She had reached her breaking point, the blue haired man realized, and any attempt to try and placate her right now would probably result in drawing more grief from the orange haired girl. So, he allowed himself to remain silent, all while she vented out her feelings on him. He hoped that it would do her some good when all was said and done.

As Nami held fiercely onto the shirt of Franky, she slowly came to realize just how grave the situation was. And in her heart, she realized there was a shattering sense of guilt. She immediately began feeling sick to her stomach, as she realized that she had chosen to repay the kindness of the straw-hat pirate with ungratefulness and fear in the face of an overwhelming enemy. Luffy would have never run away, no matter how the odds were against him. This realization finally springing up in her heart, she felt herself crying harder as the guilt and the sadness melded together in her.

"He saved my village! Two years ago! Even after I had left his crew to go back to my village without telling him, he came after me and saved my village! Even when he didn't know who I was!" She continued her outburst, shaking the man that was in her grip from time to time as the words poured out continuously from her palate.

Beside the two crewmates, a black haired man watched silently as the girl let out all her grief. "Nami….." Usopp said silently, as he remembered the silhouette of a young woman on the ground kneeling, as she stabbed herself repeatedly with the knife with which she was intending to stop the villagers. She repeatedly cried "Arlong!" as she stabbed relentlessly at the tattoo of the fish man that had been devastating her island for a long time now. Once Luffy had come to stop her from injuring herself any further, she feebly cried out for him to help her, and without saying a word further, marched on to the fishman's building and beat him, ending Nami's long years of suffering. Usopp at first had been amazed to why Luffy would do that for someone he hardly knew, but spending time with the straw-hat wearing pirate, he realized that there was probably no deep reason for what he did back then. Luffy did it because he wanted to. Now as he was watching the girl before he bawls her eyes out in distress, he could not help but understand what she was feeling at the moment. Silently, he closed his eyes, and muttered a curse under his breath, unheard of to the rest of the people in the ship with him at that moment, and clenched his fist in anger, as a feeling of helplessness washed over him.

A tan hand then placed itself over Nami's equally light toned hand, and weakly, the navigator turned her face to meet the face of her fellow female counterpart on the ship, Nico Robin. Her face held a currently unreadable expression, although it was obvious due to the currently gloomy aura around her that she felt equally as sad as Nami. Robin was never really one to show emotion, more so in such grave and extreme situations, choosing to put her mind to the task and bury her emotions. She shook her head silently once Nami had averted her gaze towards her, and Nami immediately realized that the girl was politely dissuading her from manhandling Franky like that, and instead refocuses herself on what was really important at the moment. The tears that were welling out of the girl's face immediately began to halt, and she slowly let go of the man before her. Franky, resuming his earlier posture, shifted his gaze to Robin, still wordless, and felt reassured that there was someone who understood his point of view perfectly on the ship. He allowed himself to calm down internally, and still chose not to say anything, as he now felt surer that what he had done was definitely not wrong on any account.

Once Nami had let go of the taller man, she immediately experienced a horrible sensation within her, and rushed to the edge of the ship, where she emptied the contents of her stomach to the sea below them. Clearly, she had not yet come to terms with her grief, so she still needed to let out what she was feeling at the moment. As she struggled with her current bout if sickness, she felt an oddly thin hand begin to run itself on her back slowly, helping her empty her stomach better. She realized the familiar bony feeling originated from Brook, the ship's skeleton musician, and for a moment, she thought that the man would take the chance to crack a skull joke owing to her current predicament, but she was too ill to do anything at the moment, choosing to relieve herself further in an attempt to make herself feel better.

Unknown to her and the skeleton behind her, however, the cyborg who she had been venting out on earlier watched her as she was vomiting, and realized that if it were any other time, Brook would have taken the chance to feast himself on a sight of her panties, owing to the dangerously low pair of shorts Nami was wearing at the moment. The duo of shipwright and skeleton were the most perverted members of the crew, plus another blonde cook, but he was a bit more restrained than them. Franky understood Brook' s perverted antics more than anyone else in the ship, and as he realized that the man had not taken advantage of the situation to sneak a peek at the currently helpless navigator, he realized that Brook too, understood the current grave nature of the situation. He found his sense of contentment and satisfaction growing with that, so he decided to put his mind to what mattered at the moment, psyching up the rest of the crew and handing them the morale they desperately needed at the moment in order to go save their captain.

As if mirroring his own thoughts, the green haired swordsman, who was still seated at the lawn on the foremost part of the ship, immediately bellowed to the rest of the crew, in a voice loud enough that even the birds that were currently soaring above them would hear, effectively breaking the silent atmosphere that had graced the ship at that moment. It was quite a rarity, finding the Strawhat ship queerly silent at any moment." Quit moping around you people! We already resolved to this back then when we decided to retreat from the Marines! Your hearts should have already been set on this!" He then shifted his body in order to meet the rest of the crew, who had turned their heads to face him, his face displaying the resolute nature that had been carried in his words just then. That's right. Zoro had pledged to his captain after his defeat at the hands of Dracule Mihawk that he would never lose again. That also involved losing to his heart, and that was one of the most principle things in being a swordsman. If he allowed himself to be caught up in his feelings just then, he would definitely regret it later. And Roronoa Zoro was definitely not one to carry regrets on his back.

Not waiting to see if they would come round, however, the swordsman immediately turned to the shipwright who was currently within his line of vision. "Franky! Do you have any idea what we should do next?" Zoro questioned the blue haired man, catching him slightly by surprise. Then again, Zoro wasn't exactly the brightest person around in such a situation. He was a bit like Luffy in that aspect, the only thing he was good at was definitely blasting his way through any horde of opponents that stood in his way. Normally, the planning and strategizing would be left to the smarter people in the crew, namely Sanji and Robin, but currently, one of them was in critical condition and in Chopper's hands. Robin still seemed distraught by the whole matter, so it would take some time to recompose herself and come up with a decent plan. The only option left was to leave the strategizing to the man who had suggested their retreat in the first place, Franky.

Fortunately, however, to both Zoro and Franky's increasing impatience and disappointment at the lack of coming up with a completely decent plan, Robin immediately spoke up, finally having recomposed herself. "First, I think we need to find a place where we can find information, in order to know where the government plans on taking Luffy. Of course, I don't think they plan to keep quiet over the capture of someone who has been a thorn in their side for a long time now," the archaeologist calmly explaining, finally regaining the cool aura she normally emitted. She spoke to no one in particular, keeping her gaze focused towards the air as she addressed all her crewmates.

Usopp, drawing confidence from Robin's calm aura at the moment, released the grip on his hand and allowed himself a small smile. All was not over yet, he thought determinedly, as he looked up from his previous downcast gaze. "That's our Robin! Well, that is a good idea, but what will we do once we find out what the government have planned to do with Luffy?" The sniper asked, keeping his eyes on Robin, as he patiently waited for an answer. He felt the confidence that had all but ebbed away earlier slowly returning to him, a show of the increasing determination that he was feeling to saving his captain.

Robin held up her hand to the long nosed man, telling him to wait as she had not finished her explanation. "Not just any island though. My suggestion was that we dock on an island of a person or people that we are on currently good terms with, or in a matter of speaking, an ally of ours, so that when we are finally ready to depart with news concerning Luffy, they will assist us in retrieving him," she concluded her explanation, turning her gaze to all the members of the crew in order to make sure that they all heard her loud and clear.

The reaction was delayed. All the eyes in the crew immediately shifted their yes to Robin, displaying disbelief at her suggestion. Even Nami, who by that time was already feeling better, and was currently recomposing herself in a slouched position on the edge she was currently on, looked towards the archaeologist in disbelief, her hand placed over her mouth. The sadness that had plagued the ship all disappeared at that moment, and it was replaced by mixed feelings of confusion, disbelief and dissatisfaction.

Again, Zoro was the first one to mirror whatever the rest of the crew were thinking at that moment, however, this time in a more subdued voice. He still had not believed that Robin would have made such a bizarre suggestion. "I think we're more than capable of saving Luffy on our own. Asking for someone else's help would be placing our problems on them, and Luffy would never forgive us if he learnt that we did that," the swordsman explained to Robin. Then again, there was the matter of Zoro's pride in question. He never allowed himself to ask for help from anyone; no matter how dire the situation was, even if he was hanging on to within an inch of his life at said moment.

However, to everyone's surprise on the ship at that moment, Usopp spoke again after Robin, having recovered from the initial shock of her statement. Robin's words held a lot of truth to them, plus logic, as he realized that not long ago they had to retrieve one of their own from the hands of the World Government by being aided by others. Of course, they had not asked for it, but still, they had to admit the help they received went a long way towards their success at that time. "Wait, Robin has a point; remember when we had to go to Enies Lobby a while back to save Robin from the CP9; we had to be assisted by the Franky Family and the Galley-La guys. We wouldn't have managed to enter that island if it wasn't for them, or even managed to escape. The situation this time isn't all that different."

In the back of his mind, he realized, with a slight sense of amusement, Luffy and Chopper, if he were with them in that place at the moment, would have probably added that they also needed Sogeking's help in order to save Robin. The two still had not pieced one and one together and realized that Usopp and Sogeking were the same person.

The green haired swordsman then opened his mouth to protest, but the words got stuck in his throat. With a sense of disgruntlement, he realized that if it weren't for the Sea Train, there was no way they would have accessed Enies Lobby from Water 7. Additionally, Zoro would not have gotten a chance to test his mettle before he fought the members of CP-9 against Captain T-bone of the Marines, one of their most renowned swordsmen. The Marine had amazingly cut up a Sea King in two before he had encountered Zoro and his little group, something that made Zoro's blood quiver in excitement at the prospect of meeting such a strong swordsman. But then of course, all that would not have happened without the help of their allies from Water Seven at that time, he realized with a sinking sense of shame. He bowed his head slightly in embarrassment as he finally realized the merit of having someone to help the save their captain, who was more or less in the same situation as Robin at the moment.

"Robin and Usopp certainly do make a valid point. However, the ally we decide on should definitely be someone who has no problems in fighting or encountering the World Government. We don't want to get anyone in trouble because of our antics," Franky chipped in, assessing what Robin and Usopp had both assented to. Vividly, he remembered his family back at Water Seven, and how their overly reckless nature often laid them to waste from time to time within the island. His boys had not been afraid to storm a government island in order to save their aniki, and while they were successful in retrieving him, Franky had subsequently gotten a bounty placed on his head, something that had meant that staying on Water Seven would be too dangerous for him and his family. If the government decided to storm that island at any moment, he realized that his family would by at a huge disadvantage and would probably end up being arrested for harboring a wanted criminal in their midst. There was no ways Franky was going to let that happen to anyone else. Besides, not everyone had the same mettle as his family, something he could admit being proud of.

Of course, this suggestion dampened the now rising mood of the people on that ship at the moment. That was definitely a tough call, since finding such brave people that had nothing to lose was a hard task. They immediately set to thought, trying to think of any of their friends who they could call on for help in such a situation.

"Well, I'm not sure if it will be any help, but maybe you should think about allies you've made while on your journey since entering the Grand Line. I was the last to join you, and when I joined, it was on Thriller Bark, so try to think of people who you met before coming to Thriller Bark," Brook said, his voice still holding the serious tone he had displayed since Luffy had been taken away. It wasn't something the Strawhats saw everyday, of course, but for once they were glad that he had not resorted to his skull jokes to cheer them up. At that moment, the skeleton suddenly spoke up again, an idea having popped up into his head. "Oh, I know! What if we ask Lola and her crew again? I'm sure they would be willing to help us out. They are pirates like us and they won't get into trouble for helping us!" The musician cheerfully suggested, adding a laugh to the end if his suggestion.

"I think Lola and her crew are already in the new World by now. There's a chance that they are in some deep section of the New World now, and we can't sail further without our Captain," Franky said, shooting down Brook's suggestion. It wasn't a bad idea, of course, but it wasn't a good idea.

"Franky's has a point. Even if we were to seek her mother's help, with the Vivre Card she gave us, we would take days to locate her. By then who knows what would have happened to Luffy," Robin added, and the matter regarding asking Lola or any of her comrades for help was effectively shot down.

"What about Alabasta kingdom? I mean we could ask Vivi and her dad to provide help in order to save Luffy, right?" Nami suggested after a few minutes of silence between the crew, nostalgia filling up in her as she remembered her blue haired friend from that kingdom. Vivi had been such an invaluable asset in the fight against Crocodile and the eventual salvation of Alabasta from the hands of the Warlord, so having her help this time would probably the key. However, in her elation of having finally found a solution to their current predicament, Nami forgot an important thing. Something that was very important regarding the blue haired princess.

"Hey, hey Nami, you forget that Vivi is a princess, and her country is a kingdom of the World Government. If she decided to help pirates, there's no telling what the Government would do to her country. We'd be putting her in an unbelievable amount of risk," Usopp replied to Nami's suggestion. He had also been in Alabasta of course, and was as grateful to Vivi as was the rest of the crew, but he realized that displaying any connections to pirates would definitely put her in danger. This was part of the reason why he had shut up Luffy when he was shouting goodbye to Vivi as they were leaving Alabasta.

That meant that the Strawhats had been denied the chance of an ally on two separate occasions, allies who would have proved invaluable to them. They decided to press on brainstorming, sifting through their memories as they searched for someone who could offer their assistance in such a situation.

"The Giants from Little Garden, Dorry and Broggy? Could we ask them for help?" Usopp suggested, as he remembered how he had been moved by the sheer bravery of those two large men, and how he had vowed to reach Elbaf, the home of giants, one day, so as to behold most of the giants.

"That's too far, and we don't have a means for the giants to cross the sea, so it's not a good idea," Zoro replied, shooting down Usopp's suggestion. It depressed the sniper for a while, but then, he realized that it wasn't a good idea and they needed someone who was available and within a nearby distance. Little Garden was too far back in the Grand Line, and after coming this long, they were not about to turn back, just as they were so close to heading into the New World.

The rest of the islands they had travelled to in the Grand Line were composed of most civilians than warriors, Nami realized, and the orange haired woman came to the crushing realization that their chances of saving Luffy had thinned by a large sum at the moment. She tried thinking of any characters over her head, but nothing came up. Not in the islands of Skypiea, Long Ring Long Land, or even Jaya. The small smile that had been gracing her face slowly began melting away, leaving in its wake a frown of disappointment and frustration.

Just as the rest of the crew were about to throw in the towel and decide to think of another alternative to Robin's earlier suggestion, the tanned woman spoke up again, allowing them to view the matter from another perspective. "What if we look at the islands that we each spent time on in the two years we were apart? Maybe we would find some allies there," Robin helpfully suggested.

The rest of the crew looked at her in amusement, realizing that amidst all that had happened; they had not even gotten a chance to catch up on how they had spent the two year break. It was a bit funny, they had to admit, but it was better than nothing, so they immediately set to think about who would aid their cause. Robin was the first one to start, and her mind drifted to a time she spent with her comrades during the break, the Revolutionaries.

Of course, if their leader, Dragon, knew that his son had been captured by the Marines, he would probably send someone to help in retrieving him, such as Ivankov. Then again, the issue was that at that point, she had no idea where the man was. The Revolutionaries changed their base of operations frequently, something that gave even the government a hard time in tracking them down, so Robin would probably be no different. She eliminated the thought of asking her former comrades for help, and refocused her attention on the people who were with her at that moment, her crew. She did not mention the existence of Dragon, however, or the fact that she had met Luffy's brother, Sabo, due to a promise she had made to both of them not to reveal them to Luffy since they wanted him to sail freely without worrying about his family. Besides, she believed in her crew, and owing to the way they had put their minds to the matter, something was definitely bound to come up.

Zoro reminisced to a time when he spent training with the baboons on the island that the Warlord, Dracule Mihawk inhabited, and with a sinking sense of defeat, realized that there was no way the baboons would even understand his request to save Luffy. A drop of sweat emerged from his forehead, and he narrated to the rest of the crew how it would be impossible for the Humandrills to assist them. The very idea was ridiculous.

Usopp was next, telling them about how he was the only human on the island he was blown off to, since the island mostly consisted of man eating plants, something that was obviously not going to aid them in any way or form. Just as Franky was about to recount his incident with the cyborgs he met on an island where Vegapunk was said to be born, the door to the hospital wing of the ship opened slowly, creaking on its hinges. Eyes shifted to the source of the sound, already expecting it to be Chopper, hopefully with good news regarding Sanji's current state. They were in for a shock, as they recognized the familiar black suit that adorned the body of the man that had just appeared, albeit struggling with difficulty as his body was crouched, a hand placed on his knee.

"How about…..Amazon Lily?" Sanji suggested, having caught wind of what the others had been saying behind his locked door.

**A/N: **To be continued.


	4. Contacting the Pirate Empress

**Chapter 4**

**Contacting the Pirate Empress**

"Sanji? You…are you sure you should be moving so soon?" Nami asked the cook, after laying witness to him appearing at the door to the Medical Ward. The last time she had seen him, he had been bleeding pretty heavily from his right leg, so the Navigator was not entirely sure whether he was in tip-top condition just yet.

The blonde man simply waved his free hand, while keeping the other one rested on his knee in order to steady his gait, before replying to the orange haired woman," It's okay, Nami-san. During the past two years I was able to strengthen my legs by quite some measure, so the bullet wasn't able to dig that deep into the skin. Still," he looked to his injured leg, trying to move it in order to get it used to moving," I must admit the pain is more than when I kicked Bartholomew Kuma on Thriller Bark two years ago."

The leg in question, at the moment, had been wrapped in a sizeable cast by the ship's doctor, Tony Tony Chopper. Once he had applied the necessary treatment to Sanji, the deer had told him that the leg would require some time to get back to 100% again, so for the time being Sanji would be able to walk normally but he should try his level best to avoid exerting strenuous activity on his leg.

"Thank God," Usopp said, wiping a nervous sweat off his brow. He was relieved that one of the ship's top fighters was not knocked out for good, but more importantly he was glad that his friend was out of harm's way. Still, there was something that the dark haired man needed to know, prompting him to ask the blonde man after his sigh of relief," What happened to the bullet that hit you?"

At that moment, the ship's doctor then appeared from behind the cook, a few beads of perspiration evident on his face. This was proof of the concentration and time he had needed to patch up Sanji earlier, and the crew were silently appreciative of his medical skills at that point more than ever. "Once I removed the bullet from Sanji's body, I had a look at it before placing it somewhere safe." Chopper exhaled a little before continuing, this time a pensive look etched on his eyes," The bullet itself certainly did not look ordinary, plus it was heavier than normal." Sanji listened to the doctor awhile, before chipping in himself, "If Luffy was hit by more than one of those-"

He opted not to finish the sentence, since he did not want to fill the rest of his friends with despair of what would have been the worst possible encounter from the onslaught on their Captain by the Navy earlier. It would not to do quell their spirits, just when they had resolved themselves to seek assistance in their attempts to save their captain. The blonde man organized his thoughts for a little, before continuing what he had said on his reappearance onto the deck earlier," Anyway, what we have to focus on right now is retrieving our captain."

The ship's archaeologist, Nico Robin, chimed in at that point," About that…earlier, you talked about Amazon Lily. Why did you suggest that?"

Sanji cleared his throat a little, before responding to the tanned woman," Ah, that's what I was about to explain next. You guys saw it too, didn't you?" A series of utterly confused and glazed looks were shot Sanji's way, prompting him to continue so as to shed light on their doubts. "Earlier, when we left the Archipelago with Luffy, Hancock helped us to get rid of the Marines that were about to intercept us en route. My guess is that, if it's for Luffy's sake, she's not afraid to go even against the Marines. To boot, she's one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, so that in turn gives us a very powerful ally."

The orange haired girl in the crew agreed to this notion from the cook, adding on," I'm all in agreement with what Sanji-kun says, but the thing is, Amazon Lily isn't exactly an island that is easy to navigate via normal means. Plus, I haven't the faintest idea where it is. How will we get there?"

Sanji nods in agreement to Nami's worries, bearing in mind that there was a chance the rest of the crew felt the same way as well. "Don't worry; I know exactly where it is." He replied in a calm voice. He then turned his back to the rest of the crew members, facing the entrance to the interior section of the ship. Placing one of his feet forward, he beckoned to the others," Come with me for a while guys. I want to show you something."

The rest of the crew, save for the green haired swordsman, followed suit after the blonde cook. Zoro decided to remain on helm to keep out watch, as they were still on unchartered waters and did not want to be caught off guard again by a Marine Ship like they had been with Onigumo and his men earlier. As the rest took leave of his company, however, Chopper promised to fill him in on the details once they were able to settle on a way forward.

Once they were inside the Map Room of the ship, where Nami kept most of her navigation equipment plus a map of the entire sea, consisting of islands they had sailed to, and even those they had not sailed to. The crew members gathered around the table with the map on it, Sanji standing in the midst of them all, where he would be able to have a clear view of the map. He pointed to a particular point on the large map with his free hand, and then marked it with a red X a few moments later in order to denote it for the others. "So this," he spoke after a few seconds of silence had elapsed," is where Amazon Lily is." The section in question that he had marked was oddly small, denoting the size of the island in question and making it clear why most people thought of the island as a myth.

"You sure know a lot about this island, Sanji-san," the ship's musician, Brook, commented, while giggling to himself in amusement. Sanji focused his eyes into the sockets of the skeleton, a smirk on his face. Placing one hand to his chest in pride, the Cook remarked, in an upbeat voice," That's right! As a kid the two things I wanted to know most in the world were about the **Suke Suke no Mi**, plus the location of Amazon Lily since I heard it was an island of purely women. I wanted to go see the island for myself one day." At this point, Sanji had placed a finger on his chin, being drawn in by the nostalgia of his past memories as a child.

"Sanji-san, I like how you think," Brook commented, and at this point the two men broke out into rasps of laughter, something that puzzled the other crew members that had also been gathered there. Nami sighed in exasperation, placing a finger to her forehead in order to prevent herself from lashing out at the two men in one of her usual fits of anger. "You guys-" she commented exhaustively, but to her relief, her fellow female came to her rescue this time and brought the two men back to the harsh reality of the situation.

"Wait, I don't think it would be a good idea heading there," Robin said, after studying the map for a few minutes, taking into account Sanji's information plus the features that were present on the map.

"What do you mean, Robin?" Usopp asked, bobbing his head forward so as to get a better glance of the older woman's face at the moment. Robin arched her body slightly forward, and then continued in a coherent voice, drawing the attention of the other members in the room. "If I remember correctly, Amazon Lily is located in the Calm Belt, so that means the sea in that area is infested by Sea Kings. That's part of the reason that the Government finds it difficult contacting Boa Hancock more than the other Seven Warlords."

Of course, Robin being privy to this information was not something that surprised Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Sanji , since they were well aware of her background as one of the member of the former Warlord, Crocodile's Baroque Works. The Sand Man might have let this information known to his members as part of keeping them informed in order to deepen their trust in him.

The Sniper of the Crew, at the revelation of this news, became immediately distressed, rubbing his head with both his hands in a show of his loss of what to say. Usopp then said, in a resigned voice, "Damn it, Robin is right. Even if the Thousand Sunny is stronger than the Going Merry, the ship will still take considerable damage if it's attacked by a flurry of Sea Kings."

"If that's the case then going to the island is a no," Chopper said, from his hunched up position on the table. Being shorter than the others, he had to grab onto the table with his hands in order to catch a glimpse of the map and be a part of the conversation with the others. "There should be another way of contacting Hancock then and making her learns of our current predicament. If things go smoothly we might even be able to arrange a rendezvous point with her where we can meet with her then organize the rescue operation."

Nami, her hands placed on her waist, titled her head to the side in order to get a better view of the map. Now that she noticed it, Robin was right about the island being located on the Calm Belt, even if this matter had not been inscribed on the map. She made a mental note to make that small change later. "There's no wind in the Calm Belt, so sailing till there, even if we agreed to it, would take an awfully long time. By that time, who knows what could have happened to Luffy? I agree with Chopper, we need to find another way to contact the island."

"Then why don't we ask Old Man Rayleigh?" A foreign voice suggested, shafting the attention of the room's occupants to the entrance, where Zoro had just made his appearance and was eyeing each of them with certain disapproval in his voice.

"HEY YOU DAMN MARIMO! WHY AREN'T YOU KEEPING A LOOK OUT ON THE DECK?!" Sanji immediately berated the man in his usual displeased tone, where he looked as if he were ready to kick the swordsman off the ship. The green haired man, who had reached the peak of his boredom and irritation as well, immediately retaliated at the cook who he could barely stand," BRING IT ONE YOU DAMN NOSEBLEED CHEF! WHO ON EARTH WOULD WANT TO BE ASSIGNED A BORING ACTIVITY LIKE THAT?!" He then proceeded to place one of his hands on his swords that lay at his waist and the duo of swordsman and chef stared daggers at each other, a routine that the others were well acquainted to and used to at that point in time.

"What does the old man have to do with Hancock?" Franky asked, keeping his gaze on the swordsman. The matter he had raised had piqued Franky's interest, him choosing not to pay attention to the small feud between Zoro and Sanji at the moment. The green haired man, his attention withdrawn from Sanji, looked at the shipwright, and then relaxed his hold on his swords. Clearing his throat, he kept his one visible eye closed, then said, in a much calm and collected manner," I see, most of you didn't meet up with Rayleigh when you first arrived at Sabaody. The old man told me that he left Luffy on his own for 6 months on Amazon Lily. That means that he and Luffy had been on Amazon Lily for the past two years, so Rayleigh knows the Pirate Empress in some way right?"

After this response from Zoro, the room was filled with silence, as if each of the members were in silent agreement with what the swordsman had just said. "Tch, I hate to agree with him, but the Moss Head is right," Sanji spoke up, effectively breaking the ice. Rubbing the back of his blonde hair with his hand, he continued, "It may be a long shot, since there might also be a chance that Hancock might have been lenient to Rayleigh-san only because of Luffy, but it's still worth trying."

The cook then turned his gaze to Nami, who was standing next to him in order to offer assistance with deciphering the map if need be. " Nami-san, could you check how far we are from Sabaody?' The orange haired woman broke out in a rare grin at the cook, before rushing outside onto the deck with her Log Pose in hand. Once on the grassy surface, she halted, taking a look at the Log Pose so as to try and figure out the position of the next island. The pointer came to a rest in the direction of west, and the woman immediately surmised that from their earlier Coup De Burst to escape the Marines, they should have not gone that far off course from the Archipelago. She could not be 100% sure on her claim, but they still had to check so as to be sure.

"Franky!" Nami called in an elevated voice. Moments later, the burly manappeared on deck, wondering why the navigator had called for him. Wordlessly, she pointed in the same direction her log pose had been pointing earlier, and the shipwright needed no further words so as to know what he was being instructed to do. He took his position on the steering wheel of the ship, and they were soon on course back to the island they had said goodbye to a few hours earlier. It was a pretty ironic thing. In all their moments of sailing, the Strawhats had never looked back upon any of the islands they had set sail from, but this time, they had to do it, for their captain's sake.

The island came into view shortly after, the bubbles that lay above the sky in the island growing more and more visible to the navigator and shipwright on deck. Upon seeing the familiar bubbles, Nami was overjoyed, leaping softly into the air from her position on deck. Franky had a wide grin placated upon his facial features, and he increased the speed of the ship, shouting to the others, "You guys! We've arrived!"

The Strawhats set anchor at the edge of the island, where their ship had been in tow for the past two years as well, before proceeding to decide who would go and talk to Rayleigh about the predicament they were in. It went without saying that Sanji was required to stay on deck, since Chopper insisted upon performing more medication on his injured leg so that he would be in tip-top condition soon, so with that the duo of cook and doctor stayed behind. Brook decided to linger behind as well, figuring that he wanted to keep watch over the ship while Chopper and Sanji were in the Medical Ward. Usopp as well was told to stay behind, since in case the ship would come under attack from any ruffians, then his long distance attacks would be best suited to deal with them since they didn't draw too much attention unlike the attacks from the other crew members. At this decision, Usopp prayed fervently that no one in their right mind would decide to try and steal the ship while he and Brook were still there.

That left the team of Zoro, Nami, Franky and Robin to go see Rayleigh and inform him of the situation. The quartet of Strawhats wasted no time in heading to Rayleigh's home, which lay in a less populated area of the island. The white haired man, upon opening his door to his unknown guests, was mildly surprised to come upon the members of the Strawhats so soon. He had bid them farewell a while back, coating their ship as well, so seeing them on the island so soon seemed slightly odd to him.

"You kids, why are you here?" He asked them in a curious manner, after welcoming them in his house and letting them make themselves comfortable in his furniture. Shakky, who was at the counter as usual cleaning glasses, was also surprised to see them, but from the grave looks on their faces, she knew that they had not come there out of sheer courtesy.

Nami placed one hand on the table before her, then replied in an urgent voice, "There's no time to delve into details, Rayleigh-san, but the truth is, Luffy has been captured by the Marines. We need to contact Boa Hancock as soon as possible. Would you mind helping us?"

The Dark King's eyes widened at this revelation, and if it were any other moment, he would have thought that he was being thrown for a loop by those kids. However, like Shakky, he had also witnessed the stern looks etched on their faces when they had first appeared, so he knew that this was no joke. He looked back at the dark haired woman at the counter, who's bewildered expression mirrored the one that was also etched on his face. No words need to be said between the two, as immediately, the woman went into the back of the shop and brought back the Transponder Snail. She placed it before Rayleigh, and the aged man, realizing that time was of the essence, immediately began dialing the Pirate Empress.

**A/N: **I'm really sorry for the delay in the update, a lot of things happened, but well here I am now. I hope this chapter turned out okay, for some reason I don't think I got to the best start possible with this story, so from now on I will try my level best to make each chapter plausible and avoid any minor inconsistencies as there have been in the first three chapters. Make sure to read, review, and most importantly of all enjoy this chapter!


	5. For Our Captain & For Our Love

**Chapter 5**

**For Our Captain &amp; For My Love**

Boa Hancock nearly stumbled into the room where Rayleigh, Shakky and part of the Strawhat Pirates were waiting, her sisters Sandersonia and Marigold at her heels as well. The two sisters in question were currently in their human forms, but they still towered over their sister, something that slightly intimidated the Strawhats in the room saves for Zoro and Robin. Still, they did not have time to deal with such a triviality.

"Oh, you came faster than I expected, Hancock," Rayleigh greeted her once she had managed to steady her breath after the slightly fast pace she had come with to the run down shack. The old man sighed in relief a little, before a smile adorned his face and he visibly expressed his delight at how fast the Pirate Empress had responded to his call. This had certainly reduced on the amount of time they would spend waiting for her to come all the way from Amazon Lily to Sabaody Archipelago.

Sandersonia was the one who chose to respond on behalf of her sister," We weren't too far off the island when we received your emergency call. I reckon we were near halfway between the Calm Belt and Sabaody, so we were able to make it back here on time. Luckily enough now it seems."

Marigold was the second one to speak up this time, crossing her hands over her chest in a stern manner. "It couldn't be helped though, our sweet sister here wanted to watch every last moment of her sweetheart leaving her. She was spying on the Thousand Sunny through a pair of binoculars, and when Luffy and his crew set sail was when she turned to us and make for Amazon Lily."

To this remark by her orange haired sister, the dark haired Warlord became giddy, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment and blushing furiously as a wave of red overcame her cheeks. She shook her head from side to side in embarrassment, as images of the dark haired boy flooded her mind and she found herself enchanted by him once more. Marigold took note of this behavior, inwardly regretting bringing up the topic of Luffy in the first place, but she had gotten used to seeing this side of her sister ever since she had fallen for Monkey D. Luffy.

After a few more seconds of fawning by the dark haired woman, she managed to regain her composure, jerking her head upwards immediately and proceeding to slam it on the table in front of her. This caught Rayleigh and Shakky by surprise, and the smile that had been on the white haired man's face earlier was soon replaced by a scowl. Shakky, who was seated on the opposite side of the counter, had an expressionless look on her visage at her moment, her hand tapping the table before her in a show of growing worry.

"Damn it, if only I had chosen to watch him a little longer," Hancock admitted in a seething tone, directed more at her than anyone else in the room at the moment. After the initial euphoria of remembering her beloved had worn off, she was brought back into the harsh reality where Luffy had been whisked away by the Government. It was too heavy a truth to bear, and she could feel her heart clenching tighter in her chest in a show of agony.

Sandersonia placed a hand on her sister's back, comforting her in a gentle tone," Onee-sama, don't be too hard on yourself. You didn't expect something like this to happen to him as well."

The truth of the matter was nearly fifteen minutes after Hancock had stopped watching Luffy, her ship already a clear distance of the Sabaody coast, was when the assault on the Strawhat ship had been carried out by the Navy lead by Onigumo. By that time, the Kuja Pirates ship was too far away from the Strawhat Pirates ship for her to be of any help to Luffy or his crew mates. This realization hurt more than the earlier one of Luffy in danger.

Her sister's consolation proved a little help, since she jerked her head upwards almost immediately after that, doing her best to push her anguish to the back of her head. She needed to be strong here more than ever.

"You're right. Forgive me, my sisters. That was quite…unsightly of me. There isn't time to mope around. What we need to focus on now more than anything is saving Luffy.

Shakky smiled from where she was seated opposite the counter, and the tapping of her finger on the table came to a halt. She smiled a little before chiming in the conversation herself, glad that the Pirate Empress was now resolved on what she were supposed to do.

"About that, I think I may have a lead on where they may have taken Luffy," she said in a confident manner, her eyes currently surveying all the occupants of the room at said moment. She liked the looks she saw in their eyes.

Robin was the one who spoke up this time, being the first one from the Strawhats to speak up ever since Hancock had shown up in the room," A lead? That's a bit weird; wouldn't they just take him to Impel Down normally?" She pressed a finger to her lips in thought.

"That's right. Why wouldn't they take him to Impel Down?" Zoro added on, supporting Robin's question from earlier. Something in his gut told him that there was something not entirely right here.

Shakky was somewhat prepared for these questions from the people in the room at the moment. The smile that had been etched on her face earlier never left her lips and she proceeded to respond," Normally, that's what they would do. But Luffy, or rather, you guys are a bit special in this regard."

"Special? What do you mean special?" Nami asked from where she was seated.

"Remember the time when you guys went to save Robin from Enies Lobby?" Shakky asked them, and seeing the brusque nods from the four Strawhats prompted her to continue, but she was interrupted by the navigator one more time before she could continue," Yeah, we all remember that. There was no way we were just going to leave Robin behind."

"That's exactly it right there," Shakky remarked, pointing at Nami coolly. One of her eyes was closed and she seemed as if she was trying to recall something.

The blue haired shipwright asked," Meaning?"

"You guys are the first ever pirate group to raid a government institution to save one of your own. Rationally, what anyone would do once their comrade was taken to such a place would be give up on them and resolve to sail the rest of their days minus the one person, but you guys surprised the entire world by acting completely contrary to that. Ever since that day, the government hasn't exactly treated you guys like normal pirates," Shakky explained, her hand idly moving through the room and coming to rest on Nami, Franky, Robin and Zoro.

"So? What exactly changed?" Zoro asked, his hands crossed across his chest and his one eye open as he looked at Shakky sternly.

"The Government isn't exactly planning to take Luffy to Impel Down like they would any other pirate. They've taken him somewhere different, or so I believe." At this juncture she turned to the white haired man seated opposite her on the counter. "Rayleigh-san, if you would…."

Wordlessly, Rayleigh got off his seat, headed into the interior of the house and moments later, came back clutching a folded piece of paper in his hands. He placed it on the table and rolled it out, revealing it to be a map of the entire world, including the Grand Line and the four great Blues.

Shakky pointed to an area of the map, prompting the four Strawhats in the room to draw closer to her in order to get a better look at the map. Upon closer inspection, Nami was the first one to vocally point out what the others had all noticed, a hand placed under her chin," Enies Lobby. Or where it used to be, anyway."

"Wasn't that island run down by the Buster Call? It shouldn't even exist anymore," Zoro chimed in, his doubts evident on the scowl on his face currently.

Rayleigh spoke up this time in Shakky's stead," That should be the normal case, but in the last two years the government decided to try and reestablish the premises once more, although it hasn't been made public information yet. The only ones who know I think are a few people in the Government, plus the Seven Warlords." The Strawhats shifted their looks to Hancock for a while, and seeing the look of indifference on her face, shifted their attention back to Rayleigh, who had continued speaking," It was one of their biggest bases after all, it would be a great loss for them to just leave it like that even after the destruction that happened there."

Shakky picked up on what Rayleigh had almost finished explaining," The work on rebuilding the base isn't exactly finished though, but at the moment it should be capable of detaining someone."

Franky," So you think Luffy is there then? What's the point of detaining him in a half-finished building? It's like practically asking us to go save him."

The oldest woman in the room pointed at Franky just then, her face alight with excitement that Franky had caught on to part of what she was saying. "That's what I think the government is planning to do. Since they already expect you people to try and save your captain, after seeing what happened in Enies Lobby with Robin and Impel Down with Ace, they don't want to risk any more stains on their reputation, so this time they want to keep things with your group on the low as much as possible. They want you guys to bust in there and save your captain, then once they all have you in one corner, they'll capture you all at once."

Nami shrieked in fear upon hearing this news, and Franky had a look of stupor on his face. Zoro was the only one of the Strawhats to have a grim smirk on his face; then again, he's always been one for a good challenge.

Robin seemed slightly flabbergasted by the news, which was a quite rare expression from the archaeologist. "Are you sure about this?"

Shakky arched herself backwards in her seat before responding this time," As a theory, yes, it does seem plausible enough and something that the government would do. But then again, this is all from conjecture so I can't be 100% assured this, but I say it's worth a shot."

Zoro placed his hands on his scabbard resting at his waist, then said in a confident tone," Heh, so what if it's a trap." He grunted a little to express the glee he was feeling at the moment, the grin on his face remaining etched there. "If our captain is there we just have to follow him, that's all. He could be in hell as well, and we'd still go save him."

He looked at the rest of his crewmates still in the room, and was visibly pleased to see that the earlier looks of fear and doubt on their faces had all ebbed away and been replaced by much more confident expressions. Franky mirrored the same expression Zoro had on his face, looking especially gleeful himself, while Nami at first sighed in exasperation, before focusing a warm smile at the green haired swordsman in play. Robin merely chuckled, but was nonetheless happy that the rest of her crewmates' resolves were set in place.

At that moment, however, the Pirate Empress chose to speak up, unintentionally dampening the moods of the residents of the room at that moment. Her finger was pressed to her lower lip and she seemed to have just finished pondering on something. "We can't know for a fact that they are headed there, right? It might be a wild goose chase," she said in a voice rued with doubt. Shakky certainly had made the Pirate Empress nearly place her full confidence in her thoughts, but still, that one doubt never stopped nagging away at the back of her mind. It wasn't a good idea placing all their eggs in one basket. While she had definitely received information from the government regarding them trying to restart the destroyed Judiciary Island, she had not particularly given it much thought until this particular moment.

The Dark King rubbed on his white beard for a little, before responding," That's right, we already did account for such a possibility. So here's what we had in mind to avoid such a mishap. Shakky and me will remain behind and inform you if news of Luffy pops up."

Nami was the one to speak up this time," Are you sure that news will pop up then? I mean, Shakky-san said that there's a chance the government wants to keep this entire information low key so as to protect their reputation."

"I did say that, of course, "Shakky responded, "but then again, you can never really tell with the government. At the very least, there's a chance that they won't keep quiet about news like this. They've caught one of the Supernovas and the revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon's son."

"You aren't coming with us, Rayleigh-san?" Zoro asked the Dark King, and the slight shake of the man's head was enough to slightly dismay Nami, Franky and Robin. While Zoro did not particularly express any discomfort of any sort at the news, he felt slightly dismayed as the grin that had been on his face fell slightly.

"Why not?! Having you around would make a whole load of difference and increase our chances of success at this mission!" Franky protested, throwing his arms into the air in kind.

"I would if I could," Rayleigh said calmly, a smile with a similar tone on his face as well," but an old man like me will only slow you down. Besides, I'm not as sharp as I used to be."

The Strawhats were all visibly glum at this revelation, something that was taken note of by Shakky and Rayleigh. The old man was slightly unnerved by what he had unintentionally done, so he immediately moved to correct it by stating one of the concerns that pressed at the forefront of his mind. Shifting his gaze to the Pirate Empress, who was currently seated at the centre of the group, he asked her," Hancock, are you sure about this? You might lose your position as Warlord if they find out you were involved in something like this. That might cause a lot of trouble for you, and also for your people."

A short stunt of silence followed, Hancock closing her eyes as she pondered over a response. Her sisters, who were towering over her on both her sides and behind the Strawhat pirates as well, regarded their sister with a worrisome look, and Sandersonia absently muttered," Nee-sama."

"I know all this, Rayleigh-san, and I'm just as resolved as the others in this matter. My beloved is in danger; of course I'll rush to his side and save him. I'm not just going to leave him!" She said in a slightly raised voice, and her eyes were shining with her determination, a similar expression on her face. Silvers was surprised by her decision, and would have even gone as far as to call it a reckless one by one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but after seeing the look in her eyes, all the protests he had at a ready were all shot down. There was no way he could turn down her decision after seeing how serious she was about it.

Getting up from his seat, he looked at all the residents in the room, smiling at the determined looks that came back his way, before telling them," Now that we've managed to settle all that, the only thing I can do for you guys is wish you a safe journey. It will take quite a while to head to the Island itself, but I trust this map will be able to help you." At that juncture he took the roll of paper that had been resting on his table, before handing it over to the orange haired navigator of the Strawhat pirates. Once Nami was sure that the map was well in order and okay, she and the other residents of the room proceeded to leave the room and head to where the others were.

Once outside however, Nami and Robin coincidentally found themselves walking on either side of the Pirate Empress. The orange haired woman was slightly surprised with the turn of events, but she realized that Hancock wasn't as intimidating as the rumors made her out to be. With the demeanor she carried herself with; it seemed as if it would be easy enough to strike a conversation with her.

And true enough, it did.

Clasping her hands behind her back, Nami started," Was Ray-san being serious? About him not coming?

"He was just being modest. Don't think too much into it. He's always been like that as long as I can," Hancock replied in a calm tone, setting Nami further at ease. She sighed in relief as all her earlier assumptions of Hancock all ebbed away and were replaced by a more, older sister like feeling. At the moment, the dark haired woman seemed more like Nojiko to her.

Robin took over the conversation at this turn, something which Nami did not hold any aversions too. "You've known him for that long, Boa-san."

Hancock turned her head to look at the fellow dark haired woman," You can call me Hancock. And yeah, I have, but it's kind of a long story."

Shifting her gaze between Nami and Robin, there was a look of slight amazement on her face. "So you guys are Luffy's crewmates then?" Craning her head behind her, she saw her sisters in conversation with Zoro and Franky, the lanky blue haired man seemed to be talking to Marigold about something to do with handiwork owing to the movements of his hands, and Sandersonia was looking at Zoro's swords in curiosity as the green haired sword seemed to be explaining the names of each of the swords. The sight of her sisters being comfortable enough around the two men calmed Hancock's heart, and she smiled a little at them before returning her attention to the two women whose company she was sharing at the moment.

Nami giggled a little before responding," Yeah, that's us, the Strawhat Crew, at your service!"

Hancock was about to prod at another question, but at that moment, a few other noises invaded the serene atmosphere she was enjoying with her two newly acquired acquaintances. Her gaze shifted to the front once more, and she felt slightly dismayed as they had already reached the end of their short journey. The two ships belonging to the Kuja Pirates and the Strawhat Pirates stood in the bay ahead of them, and from what they could make of the noises, they seemed to originate from the Thousand Sunny.

Upon climbing the stairs to the deck of the ship, the sight that the six people met was certainly…._flabbergasting._

The deck was populated by more of the Kuja Pirates than the Strawhats on board, and the females were all over Usopp, Brook and Chopper. At one corner of the ship, Sanji had passed out on the ground, and from what Nami could make of him, he had turned into stone. It seemed to be an effect of all the excitement that was going on at the ship.

"This is…" the navigator said in a tone of bewilderment.

Placing a finger on her forehead, the woman placed in the middle of Nami and Robin said in a slightly vexed tone," Forgive me. They don't usually act this way around other men, but since they all liked Luffy, I guess they think that all his crewmates are really nice people." Vividly, Hancock remembered hearing a similar thing happening to Luffy on the night when he was accepted as a guest of Amazon Lily.

Slowly, the blonde cook began regaining his senses, having initially been blown away by the astounding beauty of the Pirate Empress when he saw her getting of her ship earlier in order to set foot into Sabaody Archipelago. As his eyes traversed the ship in order to get a hold of the situation that had befallen his crewmates, his eyes came to land upon the Pirate Empress once more, and for the second time that day, he felt his heart nearly leap out of his body, before his body turned into stone once more.


	6. Threat

**Chapter 6**

**Threat**

The burly Vice Admiral, who had the younger lad on his shoulders for a few minutes after entering the establishment, stopped after a while inside before throwing his body onto the ground in what was a dingy place. The surrounding area wasn't entirely dark; it provided just enough light for him to be aware of his surroundings. Of course, that was what enabled him to be able to spot the first person who had come to address him.

"Hey, don't be so rough on him." The voice came from a woman of relatively young stature and medium height. She seemed to be the first to have appeared to meet the Vice Admiral, regardless of whether he had summoned her or not. She placed a hand on her waist. "We need him in one piece."

Onigumo sneered a little, letting out what seemed like a remark of displeasure from his palate before casting a similar glance to the young pirate on the ground. "Such a little bump won't work on him. He's been through worse and I've seen him come out okay in the end."

At that point, a second voice spoke up, coming to join the two people who were already on the scene. This time the voice came from a male person, and the person in question had a calm voice, which went hand in hand with the manner in which he made himself present to both Onigumo and the girl. His hands were in his pocket as he made his way towards them, and he was clad in a full suit, all but the tie in place on his body.

"But is this really okay? I mean he can just be held back at Impel Down. Level 5 did a good job of restraining him the last time he was there." While it was not exactly common knowledge just what exactly had happened in Impel Down except for the part where Luffy invaded the prison and successfully escaped with 200 other inmates, making him the second to do so after Shiki, a handful of people were well aware of the fact that when the Straw Hat Captain was in the walls of the prison, he had fought with the then warden, Magellan, a fight in which he lost horribly and afterwards, he was thrown in the Frozen Hell of Level 5.

Onigumo was the one who responded to the person who had just appeared, averting his gaze from the female who was sharing his company a few moments back. "Fleet Admiral's orders, I didn't even expect to be the one sent on such a job as soon as the pirate had resurfaced."

"Akainu-san never lets things go, does he?" The sole female in the trio said to no one in particular, but she seemed to be addressing both men with that sentence just then.

"Of course, Straw Hat Luffy is the first person ever to escape his clutches. When Akainu has his sights set on you, you're as good as dead," Onigumo said, in his usual no-nonsense voice. While initially it did vex him being sent on such an errand which he believed could have been done by anyone else in Marine HQ, he had to admit to himself that there was a degree of satisfaction he felt at finally apprehending the man who had caused the World Government a great headache. It had become a bit tedious to read reports of his constant troublemaking in things that had to with the government, so the 2 years in which he was inactive had proved to be a reprieve from that.

Before the trio could delve into further conversation, they were joined by yet another person, this time it being a swordsman. The man in question was clad in a kimono, a stark contrast to the manner in which both Onigumo and his other male companion were wearing. On his waist, he had three swords strapped, and as he moved they also moved noiselessly beside him. His feet were covered in a pair of sandals, which had an ancient Japanese make, and they echoed a bit loudly as he took one step after the other headed to where his comrades were standing.

"This is odd. Where are the rest of your swords?" The girl asked him before he drew level with them. Like everyone there except Onigumo, she had duly taken note of the number of swords strapped onto his waist band. They were a considerably less number than what they usually saw him wielding, so it was a definite cause of concern at that moment.

The swordsman scratched the back of his head for a moment, before finally opening his mouth to speak in what was a surprisingly lazy voice, for someone of his disposition. His other hand was resting within the folds of his kimono, and he proceeded to place his other hand into the kimono.

"Carrying all of them tends to get weary, besides, there's no action yet, so there's no need to be fully armed as of yet," the swordsman responded.

"Please, they aren't even your swords in the first place. You shouldn't express such confidence in things that aren't even yours," his partner told him, standing beside Onigumo with his hands behind his head, as he rested himself on the wall that was behind him. It was common knowledge to everyone who was in the facility just then that the swordsman had a penchant for taking the swords of any of the opponents he beat in battle, provided that they were also swordsmen. And not just any swordsmen, but swordsmen who would give him a good time in battle, otherwise he would find it a total chore. He would then proceed to add those swords to his collection, so at said moment he currently had 6 swords in his possession. Of course, it went without saying that he did not exactly pick just any sword he found, the sword had to be to his liking and if it was a substandard sword, he would just discard it along with the life of its owner.

"Dead men don't exactly have a say in anything, do they?" The swordsman nonchalantly replied as he stopped a foot before the trio that was before him. He had not noticed it before since he was not paying attention and was preoccupied with conversing with his comrades, but now that he had drawn closer to them, he was able to see it clearly.

Looking down at Luffy's unmoving body, he asked no one in particular," And what do we have here?"

The woman decided to address him, her hands on her waist and standing on the other side of the wall. "His name is Monkey D. Luffy. A rookie with a bounty of 400 million. After the war on MarineFord, he went missing for a whole 2 years but soon enough he resurfaced, and here he is now."

The swordsman bobbed his head to the side a little, with his hands still in the sleeves of his kimono. He had most definitely heard that name before, as much as he detached himself from the ongoing events in the outside world and preferred to keep to him as much as possible, there were a few things that he had committed to heart, among them being the names of notorious criminals. "Luffy? I think I've heard of that name somewhere before." Luffy currently had his face downwards to the ground owing to how he had been roughly manhandled, so the swordsman readjusted his position on the ground using one of the sandals on his feet.

"Hey, don't do that." His comrade told him, getting his hands off the wall where they were resting and preparing to intercede in case things went out of hand.

"Tch, pirate scum is pirate scum. It doesn't matter how you treat them either way."

The female edged closer to him, now standing beside him as they looked down at the form of the unmoving boy. At that moment, the swordsman's eyes widened as he now remembered where he had heard the name before, and the young man's face suddenly seemed familiar to him, finally coming into view and he found himself looking down at the boy's face. "Ah, it's that boy. He's the Captain of the crew that has Pirate Hunter Zoro."

"What, do you have some sort of grudge with Roronoa Zoro?" Onigumo asked, edging closer to the duo that was standing on the opposite side of Luffy's body. This was the first time he was hearing anything of the sort coming from the man, despite having known the group for quite a while now. Despite the surprise however, the Vice Admiral was all too aware of the Pirate Hunter's skills, after witnessing them at Enies Lobby 2 years ago when he and the rest of the crew had showed up there to save Nico Robin.

The swordsman rubbed his chin, both his hands out of the sleeves of his kimono. "It's not exactly something personal, but I have been interested in the swords he possesses for a while now. Maybe my lucky day has finally come." His fascination with swords did not just end at collecting the swords he bested his opponents of, during his own free time he did his own research about any of the legendary swords that existed in the world. It was with that conviction that one day, he had come across information about 12 Meitou, the world's rarest and most special swords, so with that information he had also popped upon the news that Roronoa Zoro had 3 of those swords in his possession. Those were a little too many swords in the hands of one person, so for quite a while Zoro had been the renegade swordsman's target. It was only prudent that he relieves him of the three swords, after all.

To that reply, Onigumo sneered a little, before remarking himself, as he now turned away from the trio that had assembled before him. "Well, I don't particularly care what you do, provided that you don't let that runt escape, or get stolen from beneath your feet. If we're going to have another failure on our hands like with the CP-9…" He placed a special emphasis on that last part of the sentence, and a little of his bitterness seeped out into his voice, something that the others took dull note of but decided not to pay too much heed to.

Regardless, that did not prevent the swordsman's male counterpart from speaking up in response to the Vice Admiral's retreating form. Taking a step forward in front of his other two comrades, he said in an astute voice. "You don't have to worry about us, Onigumo-san." He then proceeded to take Luffy's limp body that was on the ground and hoist it on his shoulder, before walking away in an opposite direction to where the Vice Admiral was heading to. He stopped a few metres short, before glancing from the corner of his eye. "If anything, we're better than that failed group known as the CP-9."

Onigumo, who had stopped for a few moments to look at the man as he made his bold claim, smiled from the corner of his mouth grimly, before turning his head once more to face the outskirts of the facility. "So be it then." With that clear and out of the way, the burly man stepped out into the light of day for the second time. While he could rest assured now since the first part of his job was done, he couldn't allow himself to rest completely easy since he still had to go back to Marineford to report the issue. Once that was done, he would return to the facility with the Fleet Admiral in tow, and once that was done, he was sure that Monkey D Luffy's fate would be sealed for good.

_Somewhere out at sea_

"Hmm, I think I get the gist of things now," Hancock said, once Nami and Robin were done filling her up with the details of all that had transpired regarding Luffy's capture. While it was difficult taking in all that had happened to her beloved, she could still take consolation in the fact that Luffy was still alive.

Now the real issue was getting him back, and in one piece at that.

They had been out at sea for quite some time, not wasting any time ever since they had regrouped at Sabaody Archipelago and also disembarking from there as soon as Hancock had arrived at the ship along with the people who had gone ashore to explain the situation to Rayleigh-san. Once they were back in the sea once more, the Pirate Empress was familiarized with the remaining crew members who she had yet to meet. As she had already anticipated from the captain's nature, they were as amiable a crew as he was. She smiled to herself as she reminisced briefly on how mixed their reactions were when she took a first step onto the deck of the ship.

"You girls hungry? I brought you something to eat," Sanji says, interrupting the moment between the trios of girls before setting a delicacy of sea king meat. The particular delicacy was so large that at first the girls were not sure they would be able to complete it, but they needed as much energy as they could where they were heading.

It had taken quite a while for the blonde cook to be able to regain his senses from the momentary shock of having the Pirate Empress aboard the Thousand Sunny. Never in all his life had he thought that he would be in such close proximity with the prettiest woman in the world, so today seemed to be a blessing in more ways than one. Soon enough, however, he went back to normal, and was able to carry on like he always did around the rest of his crewmates. . That however, did not stop him from gawking on the new comrades who were aboard their ship at the moment.

While Boa Hancock had indeed arrived at Sabaody Archipelago using her grandiose ship and accompanied by the rest of her crew, the Kuja Pirates, it wasn't the same thing she was planning to disembark off the island once more to go save Luffy. As much as she adored him and wanted to go to his side as soon as possible, she wasn't exactly as reckless at him when it came to things like this. That was one thing she could admit they didn't have in common. It was to that effect that she had chosen a handful of her best warriors to accompany her: Margaret, Sweet Pea, Sandersonia and Marigold.

Originally, Aphelandra had wanted to accompany them, insisting that she had wanted to show her appreciation to Luffy for saving her when Hancock had inadvertently turned her to stone back on Amazon Lily, but her peers dissuaded her, telling her that someone as big as her would draw too much attention to herself and the people she was with at that point. Eventually, the oversized woman had to content herself with remaining behind and waiting on Sabaody with the rest of the crew.

At said moment, the four girls who accompanied the Pirate Empress were associating with the other crew members. Margaret was listening to Brook play his guitar on the deck of the ship and swaying her head from side to side in tune with his music, a smile on her face and her eyes closed in bliss. Her initial impression of Brook was not exactly the best one, since it was not exactly common to get off the right foot with someone when they asked to see your panties. Despite that, Margaret had not allowed that to plague her first time on Luffy's ship, so as soon as Brook had apologized, she had delved into conversation with him that had actually turned out to be more enjoyable that she had initially thought.

Besides that, the Pirate Empress's sisters were on one side of the ship, looking out towards the sea. They were both unusually silent, which was quite a site as both of them were loud spoken even more than their younger sister, but perhaps their solemn nature at the moment was showing the degree of worry they felt regarding their sister's beloved. There was a slight breeze out at sea, something that caused their hair to sway silently and mirrored the same feelings that they both held in their hearts.

Sweet Pea, on the other hand, was in the medical ward of the hospital along with Chopper, and the girl was too endorsed in the skills of the younger medic, marveling at each and every one of the things he did. It wasn't exactly common knowledge to everyone except a select few who were close to her in the island, but Sweet Pea was a lover of everything that involved herbs and medicine. In her free time, she would visit the forest in the village and collect herbs, which she would proceed to later on go and practice her medical skills with. It was a bit of a downer being the only one with that interest in the island, so having someone else who had the same interests was a blessing to her.

After looking around the ship to see that all her crewmates had settled in quite well, she turned back her attention to Nami and Robin, this time with a stern expression on her face. Sanji, who was resting his back against the wooden rail on the side of the ship and had his hands in the pockets of his suit, his gaze cast slightly downwards, duly took note of the change in expression on Hancock's visage, but chose to say nothing as he braced himself for what the woman was about to say.

"Do you guys know what happened at Impel Down 2 years ago?" She asked curtly, her gaze drifting between the two girls plus the sole male who was sharing their company.

Sanji responded his voice calm and collected. "Yeah, it was in the news back then. Luffy infiltrated Impel Down to save Ace, and in the result of his escape he released 200 other inmates who were also in the prison walls." He then turned his gaze to Hancock, making eye contact with her for the first time ever since she had come aboard and not melting from the action. "What about it?"

Hancock pursed her breath a little, before responding again. "The Government won't risk holding him in that place again, since having another slight on their honor would only dampen the faith of the people in them. To that effect they want to deal with the immediate problem, that is, you guys, as soon as possible and as subtly as possible."

"This means….." Robin asked, but she already had an idea of what the answer would be even before it left Hancock's lips.

"They'll hold him at an institution that's not too familiar with the public. I have a general idea where the place is, since it's relatively new, and I think you guys have been there in the past as well."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Nami said, worry still gnawing away at her heart. There was something strangely ominous regarding what Hancock had just said just then, and Nami was not exactly sure she wanted to find out what was on the other side of it.

"Oh yeah, you guys didn't know about it, being all in hiding and stuff. Well, I already told your shipwright, so I guess I'll fill you on in it."

Sanji glanced out to the water that surrounded them, taking note of the ship's trajectory and the nature of the water in this area. "Now that you mention it, where are we headed to? I don't remember ever seeing this area of the sea, although for some odd reason, it seems strangely familiar. Like I've been here before."

Hancock had a look of recognition on her visage just then as she looked at the blonde man, realizing that he was probably one of the smartest people aboard. Before the dark haired woman could continue any further, however, someone called out to them from the front of the ship where the rudder was. It was Franky.

"Hey, you guys! There's an island showing up at 12'oclock!"

Zoro, was on his hammock that was erected in the grassy patch of land on the deck, with his hands behind his back and drifting between slumber and being awake, had his attention captured by Franky's words just then. He arched the upper part of his body upwards as he refocused his gaze in the direction that Franky had pointed out just then. A small smile broke out onto his lips," It's about damn time."

Hancock turned her head backwards to look at the shipwright, nodding her affirmation to him, before turning her head back to Sanji, Nami and Robin. "It seems we've already arrived. Look around you. Does this place seem any familiar?" She asked the three Strawhats, but at that moment, each of them had a look of shock and surprise placated onto their faces.

**A/N: **To be continued.


End file.
